Stories for June 2011

Thursday, June 30

One of the most congested highways in San Diego, Interstate 805 south of Interstate 8, will be expanded by one lane in each direction thanks to a $100 million grant from the California Transportation Commission.

Tuesday, June 28

First Foundation Inc., an Irvine-based holding company of both First Foundation Bank and a wealth advisory subsidiary, said it plans to open its third banking office in the University Towne Center area in October.

PRODUCING: Costs, IP Concerns Influence Production Decisions

Contract manufacturing is returning to the U.S. and the San Diego region slowly and steadily, according to both the head of Carlsbad-based Outsource Manufacturing and a business adviser who helps companies decide where to place their manufacturing contracts.

TOURISM: Extensive Renovations ‘Refresh’ Downtown Property

An extensive $200 million makeover of downtown’s San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina is about a third complete, as work proceeds on what operators say is the largest renovation investment ever made by the hotel’s owner, Maryland-based Host Hotels & Resorts Inc.

TOURISM: Corporate Travelers Filling Local Luxury Resorts

While they’re not booking the room rates or racking up the revenue like they did before the recession, Park Hyatt Aviara and other local luxury resorts are crediting a rise in corporate group travel for a distinct uptick in visitors in 2011.

Private equity funds and opportunistic investors are taking advantage of the still fragile economy and depressed balance sheet of many lenders, pumping funds into banks that are making inroads in San Diego and other parts of California.

Technological advances such as high-quality videoconferencing notwithstanding, business generally needs to be conducted in person. This is especially true when relationships need to be cultivated before deals can be made, whether cultural norms demand it or simply in order to build the necessary trust.

Name San Diego’s economic engines? You might say military and defense-related activities — perhaps wireless technology, even international trade or biotech research. But San Diego has an uncredited powerful engine helping drive its economy: arts and culture.

CLEAN-TECH: San Diego Is Home to 41 Businesses Involved In Many Aspects of the Industry

San Diego County may never have the dramatic, large-scale wind farms seen in the mountain passes near Bakersfield or Tracy, said Michael Picker, senior adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown for renewable energy facilities. That being said, there is still some opportunity to convert wind into electricity in eastern San Diego County and western Imperial County.

LIFE SCIENCES: Newcomer BioNanomatrix Is Drawn To Area’s Top Institutions

ELECTRONICS: 2 Companies Home to 41 Businesses Involved In Many Aspects of the Industry

The sale of DEI Holdings Inc., a publicly traded distributor of consumer electronic goods, to a Boston-based private equity firm is a sign that the economy is improving, according to a San Diego State University professor.

Soon, we’ll all know what we’re made of for just $100, in a manner of speaking. BioNanomatrix Inc., which is moving its offices and lab to America’s Finest City from the City of Brotherly Love and featured elsewhere in this issue, has been on a five-year quest for the Holy Grail of genomics research, the ability to sequence the human genome for $100 or less in eight hours or less

BIOTECH: Company Has Attracted $100M-Plus in Financing Since 2000

“In for a penny, in for a pound.”
Apparently such is the case for investors involved in 11-year-old Ambit Biosciences Inc.
The developer of small-molecule, anti-cancer compounds said June 10 that it has raised $30 million in a Series D round from 12 venture capital firms, including lead firm Apposite Capital LLP.

DEVELOPMENT: Target A Contender to Anchor 28-Acre Otay Mesa Site

Florida-based Regency Centers, which operates nearly 400 U.S. shopping centers including nine in San Diego County, plans to take on its big national rivals already serving the growing South County border region.

Friday, June 24

Excel Trust Inc., a retail-focused real estate investment trust with headquarters in San Diego, announced on June 23 the start of an underwritten public offering of 12.5 million shares of common stock, at $10.94 per share.

Shares of WD-40 Co., the maker of the all-purpose lubricant and other household products, dropped about 5 percent in midday trading on the Nasdaq exchange June 23 to $39.49 following the company’s lowering of its fiscal year 2011 outlook for revenue and earnings.

Wednesday, June 22

Escondido-based Realty Income Corp., which invests in retail and related commercial properties, announced June 21 that its board of directors has declared an increase in the company’s common-stock monthly cash dividend.

Tuesday, June 21

Borrego Solar Systems Inc., an El Cajon-based designer and installer of solar energy systems, said June 21 that it closed another financing fund with its lenders for new energy projects in California, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Monday, June 20

DEI Holdings Inc., the makers of Viper car alarms and other consumer electronic equipment, said June 20 that its shareholders voted to approve the sale of the company to Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC for $4.46 per share in cash, a 17 percent increase to an earlier offer DEI had received from the firm. The increase was due to an unsolicited offer from Gibson Guitar Corp.

SeaWorld San Diego, operated by Florida-based SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, has opened a new attraction called Turtle Reef, in which visitors can view more than 60 threatened or endangered species of sea turtles.

There are three San Diego-based REITs eyeing the real estate market here and abroad. There are also many REITs that are located elsewhere but invest in San Diego. Many of the more than 200 listed REITs do business in San Diego.

ECONOMY: County Is A Leader in Wireless, Biotech, Defense and Sporting Goods Sectors

FINANCE: Businesses Related to Health Care Showing Explosive Growth

Given the sheer amount of brainpower that’s concentrated on the local life sciences sector, it’s not too surprising that so many of San Diego County’s fastest-growing public companies are in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

TECHNOLOGY: Company Takes Innovative Path With Genome Sequencer

Illumina Inc., which ranks No. 4 on the San Diego Business Journal’s list of Largest Public Companies, makes genetic analysis equipment that helps shed light on the innards of the human DNA. Among peers, it’s in the driver’s seat.

LIST: Several Firms Not in the Top 50 Still Made Some Good Gains

Just like the Top 50 in market capitalization, the roster of 22 publicly traded San Diego County companies that hadn’t reached that ranking at the end of 2010 is heavily weighted in favor of companies tied in some way to health care.

FINANCE: Biotech Field Developments Could Spur Companies to Go Public

The year 2011 started out with January’s $564 million initial public offering of common stock by San Diego-based American Assets Trust Inc., among the largest U.S. IPOs in recent years by a real estate investment trust.

For Sempra Energy, the San Diego-based holding company for San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co., the emphasis in recent years has been a return to focus on its main utilities businesses.

MEDICINE: Firm Looks For Focused Expansion Of Medical Offerings

“It’s something old, but something new.”
That’s a good way of describing public company CareFusion Corp., a provider of equipment used to reduce infections, manage medications in hospitals while preventing medication errors.
The company has a history, but not on Wall Street.

Thursday, June 16

Employment prospects in San Diego won’t be much different in the third quarter as they were in the second quarter, which is fairly weak, based on the most recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released June 14.

Sandra Redman is a banker and philanthropist. She has more than 35 years of banking experience and is currently a senior vice president and private banking manager of the Rancho Santa Fe office of California Bank & Trust.

Life Technologies Corp., one of the top public companies in San Diego as ranked by market cap, is named one of CIO Magazine’s 2011 CIO 100, a feature honoring the top large companies for their best use of IT.

With the British launch of the first insulin pump linked to the continuous glucose monitor developed by San Diego medical device company DexCom Inc., diabetics are steps closer to the holy grail of diabetes management: the artificial pancreas.

Buoyed by a capital infusion of $60 million last year, First PacTrust Bancorp Inc. put part of it to work last week when it agreed to purchase Gateway Bancorp, a Cerritos lender with $187 million in assets.

Money makes the world go around, so why should it be any different in legal circles? California Lawyer magazine recently named Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP partner Christopher Healey as a 2010 Attorney of the Year.

Petco Animal Supplies Inc., the San Diego-based retail chain, said June 9 that it acquired all the assets of Complete Petmart Inc., a Dayton, Ohio-based pet specialty chain with 29 stores, for an undisclosed price.

DEVELOPMENT: Declining Supply Of New Condos Encourages Builders

Dwindling supply and improved financing fundamentals are putting companies like Vancouver-based Bosa Development Corp. back in the downtown San Diego housing game, following a long period in which product sat unsold thanks to overbuilding.

TRANSPORTATION: Air Traffic Statistics Rebounding at Lindbergh

San Diego’s bustling Lindbergh Field is reversing the adage “What goes up, must come down.”
Air traffic, which has been down slightly for much of the Great Recession, is slowly winging its way back up to lofty levels, says the airport, both in terms of commercial air traffic and passenger activity.

Tuesday, June 7

RF Industries Ltd., a San Diego distributor of cable assemblies and telecommunications devices, said June 7 it agreed to acquire Cables Unlimited Inc. in a cash and stock transaction valued at $5.6 million.

First PacTrust Bancorp, the Chula Vista holding company for Pacific Trust Bank, said it entered into a definitive agreement to purchase all the outstanding stock of Gateway Bancorp, the holding company of Cerritos-based Gateway Business Bank.

FINANCE: Increases In Room Tax, Other Proposals Considered

Tourism: Mayor’s Team Tackles Challenges of Design And Regulatory Approval

He’s no caped crusader, but if Mayor Jerry Sanders has his way, Comic-Con’s annual crush of fanatical fans would have a lot more elbow room to march around the San Diego Convention Center in four short years.

EDUCATION: One-Year Session Starting June 27 Offers Hands-On Lessons

Dallas-based, privately held MediaTech Institute, which opened a 5,000-square-foot “Hollywood caliber” sound and video studio in central Oceanside in September, is starting a private school to train students for jobs in the entertainment industry.

HOSPITALITY: Few New Properties Expected In Next Couple of Years

With the news that a planned luxury hotel in downtown Escondido fell through recently, new hotel construction in San Diego is barely a whisper of what it once was, and it is limited to certain locations.

TECHNOLOGY: Russian Satellites Give Boost to Firm’s Latest Offering

With the addition of 24 Russian satellites to its global positioning systems network, Qualcomm Inc.’s latest chipset now has use of more than 50 satellites to assure the access and accuracy of the GPS applications on cell phones that incorporate Qualcomm’s Snapdragon MSM7x30chips.

Is June 8 doomed to be an Internet Armageddon? Jeremy Duimstra, who co-founded locally-based MJD Interactive and who teaches at the UC San Diego Extension, doesn’t think so, but says there could be a few hiccups on that fateful Wednesday.

FINANCE: BrightScope Aims To Shed Light on Advisers

Now that they’ve tackled one murky business segment, evaluating the merits of retirement investment plans, the folks at BrightScope Inc. have set their sights on bringing more clarity to an even more mysterious industry — financial advice.

TOURISM: Renovations, Upgrades Part of Plans To Stay Competitive

Four San Diego area hotels are in the midst of renovations to bring the properties up-to-date and prepare them for the improving travel and business climate predicted — and hoped for — in the coming year.